While Palling Around With Glenn Beck, O’Reilly Complains About Obama Hosting “Vicious, Vicious” Bloggers At The White House

Bill O’Reilly has been palling around with Glenn Beck, hosting him on The O’Reilly Factor each week and touring the country with him. That’s the same Glenn Beck who daily spews violent rhetoric and who has inspired violent acts. None of what Beck says seems to botherO’Reilly. But he was on his high horse last night (10/28/10) because President Obama met with five “vicious, vicious” liberal bloggers and George Soros, none of whom have said anything half as malicious and incendiary as the kind of language that is Beck’s stock in trade.

O’Reilly described the bloggers as “five far left internet people… folks who have said extremely hateful things… They’re vicious, vicious people."

What were those awful things said? O’Reilly cited blogger Oliver Willis’ statement on Ash Wednesday, “Religion, you are weird.” O’Reilly also called out Daily Kos’ Barbara Morrill for describing Senator John McCain as a “nutjob and formerly sane.” Why, O’Reilly asked, would Obama be “associated with people like these?... I think there should be some standards.”

OK, so maybe Morrill and Willis did not use the most sophisticated or even the most mature language in being critical of religion or McCain. But people expect - like, even - informal talk such as this on blogs. Unless you’re looking for reasons to take offense, those comments are pretty darned tame. They especially pale in comparison to the kinds of remarks Beck makes on a daily basis:

Calling President Obama “a racist” with a “deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.”

Saying about the bailouts, “I think this is a sign that the government won't think twice before they jam their fangs into your neck. … These bloodsucker vampires are not going to be satisfied with just sucking the blood out of GM's top guy, the AIG executives or any other business or businessperson. Their thirst for power and control is unquenchable. They will not stop. There's only two ways for this movie to end: Either the economy becomes like the walking dead, or you drive a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers.”

Saying the Obama administration is “taking you to a place to be slaughtered!”

Suggesting that President Obama did not want to meet with the head of BP because he’s white.

Suggesting that President Obama sold out our national security to China.

The list goes on and on. But while O’Reilly was all outraged that Obama met once with some people calling religion “weird” and McCain a “nutjob,” he continues to tour and, for all intents and purposes, endorse Beck’s rhetoric.

Next, O’Reilly went to work attacking George Soros. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Soros just donated $1 million to Media Matters in an effort “to hold Fox News accountable for the false and misleading information they so often broadcast... (and) to more widely publicize the challenge Fox News poses to civil and informed discourse in our democracy.”

As O’Reilly spoke, B-roll footage of Soros appeared on the screen with the caption, “GEORGE SOROS, far-left billionaire.”

Calling Soros “a dubious character,” O’Reilly sneered, “Four visits by George Soros, convicted felon (in France, for insider trading) who’s a far-left radical and that troubles me as an American citizen. Not as a commentator on Fox News. I’m saying, ‘What is this guy doing in the White House?’”

Fox News Democrat Joe Trippi did a decent job in this segment defending the president (saying that Soros was no Jack Abramoff and that at least Obama reveals who visits). But Trippi never challenged the meme, itself, which was, obviously, to revive the old “radical associations” smear against President Obama. O’Reilly was either betting that as a paid contributor to Fox, Trippi would not point out the glass house in which O’Reilly was throwing stones or else O’Reilly is so inured to the outrageous rhetoric going on right there, under his nose, that he truly does not see his own hypocrisy.